I feel a general mistrust for online transactions using credit cards because of fear of hackers who can retrieve information I send online. Also, I do not trust myself with a credit card transaction online out of fear that I’ll lose control and overspend. These have limited my opportunities to earn online.

So, imagine my joy when I heard that Paypal Philippines can now receive and send funds. At least, now there’s a more secured way to transact online. And it accepts some debit cards too (visa electron)! Now that’s good news. I don’t have to suffer having credit card information sent online.

So, what did I do?

First, I applied for an EON cyberaccount online at Unionbank website (read more about EON Visa Electron here). Then I received an email that informed me that my card will be ready for pickup after 5 banking days at the branch that I picked during application. In my case, I picked Muñoz branch.

Remember very well that you need to bring IDs (at least two) and photocopies of it to be able to claim and activate your cyberaccount.

The IDs you could bring are:

Birth/baptismal certificates

Current Driver’s License

Valid Passport

Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) ID

Major Credit Cards

Permit to Carry Firearms

Tax Identification Number (TIN) Card

Social Security System (SSS)/Government Service Insurance System Card

Current Company ID

Postal ID

Current School ID (for students only)

Also, you have to have at least Php100 in your cyberaccount before you can enroll it at Paypal. The reason for that is $1.95 will have to be debited from your account when you enroll it. But after your first transaction using paypal, the $1.95 will be credited back to your Paypal account. Don’t worry, no maintenance balance is required for a cyberaccount.

Using an EON cyberaccount requires you to enroll it in the EXPUSE programme. You can acquire the EXPUSE number by calling 1-800-1888-2277 and be ready with your account and card details. However, the CSA will tell you that you will have to wait 4 banking days for EXPUSE number to be made available to you.

When you have acquired your EXPUSE number, login to Paypal and enroll your account to EXPUSE. If you have attempted to enroll the cyberaccount before without the EXPUSE number (like the very impatient me), there should be a link there that says “finish enrollment to expanded use programme” or something like it. After you have entered the four-digit EXPUSE number, the account will show that the card is finally verified.

Warning, though, for the impatient ones: I remember that in Pinoymoneytalk, it was said that you can get your EXPUSE number through your transaction history at Unionbank online. I tried what was suggested there but I wasn’t able to enroll the cyberaccount to Paypal. And do not attempt too many times if you do not have the EXPUSE number because it can result in blocking of your account in Paypal (which almost happened to me). So, if I were you, just call the hotline number I stated above, just to be sure. Perhaps the suggestion at pinoymoneytalk worked before but it seems that Unionbank changed some policies/procedures regarding enrollment at Paypal.

So far, I have only received payments from Text-Link-Ads. And I haven’t attempted to withdraw the money I have in Paypal to EON cyberaccount just yet because there’s a withdrawal fee of $5. I think I’ll just wait for the amount to get a bit bigger .

How about you? What experiences did you have using your credit cards/debit cards in Paypal? Leave your advices, suggestions, comments, and questions here so that we could help each other out.